Man is stabbed to death in Penns Grove, second homicide in Salem County in 12 hours

PENNS GROVE — A man was found stabbed to death in a vacant lot here late Thursday night, the second homicide victim to be discovered in Salem County within a 12-hour period.

Salem County Prosecutor John T. Lenahan identified the victim as Carikin Hudson, 39, of 47 Madole Place in the borough.

Stabbed to death, the body of a Penns Grove man was found in the borough late Thursday night. He was the second homicide victim to be found in Salem County in a 12-hour period on Thursday.Hudson’s body, covered in blood, was found at 9:08 p.m. Thursday, the prosecutor said.

A neighbor who lives near the lot where the victim was discovered heard an argument and called Penns Grove Police, Lenahan said. When officers arrived on the scene, they found Hudson dead.

Hudson suffered from multiple stab wounds, Lenahan said, apparently from an altercation in the lot with a suspect or suspects.

Investigators from the Penns Grove Police Department, Salem County Prosecutor’s Office and New Jersey State Police remained on the scene early this morning.

There were no reported arrests yet in the case.

The lot where Hudson was found on Cumberland Avenue is just south of the street’s intersection with East Main Street in the mile-square, riverfront borough.

The discovery of Hudson’s body marked the second murder victim to be found in Salem County in less than a 12-hour period Thursday.

At 9:28 a.m. the body of Angel Montes was discovered in his house at 21 Eighth Street in Salem City.

Montes died of multiple gunshot wounds, Lenahan said.

That killing is being probed by the Salem City Police Department, the prosecutor’s office and the New Jersey State Police.

There were no reported arrests in the case as of this morning.As the team of investigators converged on the scene of the Penns Grove killing, authorities were still at the site of the Salem murder processing the scene and were expected to be there into this morning.

The twin homicides shocked Lenahan.

“We didn’t have a single homicide in 2009 and to have two murders in a 12-hour period is alarming,” said Lenahan, speaking from the scene of the Penns Grove murder.

The prosecutor said authorities believe there is no connection between the killings in Penns Grove and Salem.

The circumstances are completely different, he said.

Lenahan called the discovery of two homicide victims within such a short period of time a “terrible coincidence.”

Anyone with information on the Penns Grove killing is asked to call Salem County Prosecutor’s Office Lt. Dave Corman at (856) 769-3508 or Penns Grove Police at (856) 299-0055.

Those with information on the Salem murder are asked to call Salem County Prosecutor’s Office Lt. Fred Parkell at (856) 769-3508 or Salem City Det. Michael Pelura at (856) 935-0033.